palpala!

the first week in a new area!, and just so you know i keep trying to send photos but i cant figure it out and it takes too much time, so il keep working on it. it is cold here, with my huge down jacket im good and die the second the sun comes out, haha but im good, its more the legs that get the brunt of it. 

there are alot of awesome people here who are waiting to be baptised and have alot of faith but are waiting to get married. and they want to but they have to wait for paperwork, the laws are different here and they need alot of documents, or maybe its the same i don't know, but there are alot of people who never got their documents becasue they are humble and never travel or need a reason for documents. 

ya so. im good. im pretty positive im gonna come back with the body of an old person, not listing ages so no one gets offended. haha but not the body of a 22 year old, but those are the sacrifices of the mission i guess.

my comp is awesome, hna patiño, from buenos aires, this is her 3 transfer but i dont have to teach her anything, she is helping me remember the excitement i had when i started off. she is paitent with me and the people we teach, which is not always the easiest , but im learning alot from her. my last comp told me that you learn more from your jr comp then you ever do from your sr. and i believe it. she was sick the week before i got here, they arent sure with what but she keeps getting really dizy and before she got bad nose bleeds and then fainted, this was before, she is good now, but still having the weak after affects so we take it wasy with the walking, we are alot in a higher altitude here so it doesnt help. but im taking care of her and we work really well togeather. 

i was talking to hna guymon today, she was my comp in the mtc, we are in the same zone now. and she had had a hard time with all of her comps so far, and i can honestly say that i havent, ive had some god learning experiences, but most of the time its a battle with myself. my comps have all been great. i am super greatful for them, and having other trials, not those ones.

so this week we found a man, hid name is flavio, ya its kinda a different name for us, but its normal here. hes 33. when we knocked his door he was busy in the back but was super nice and told us to come back saturday, and then said, and i will recieve you cuz i had mormon friends back in mendoza when i was a kid. which was a good sign because people usualy just shoo us away after they say ok. so we went back and talked a little then went to start and i asked if we could sing and pray to start, and he flat out said, NO, that was a first for me. but i asked why and he said i dont pray with my church and i wont do it with yours. ya kinda blunt, but my comp rocks so she just ignored it and started teaching. but i could tell there was somthing he wasnt telling us, he was angry with God. he told us all this sad stuff that has happened in his life and he tried to change but its happening again with his second marrage and he is just loosing hope. it was like he was clouded with darkness but ther was a spark of hope burried deep. so we taught the spark and seriously i watched it grow and the darkness soften as we taught. it was a fast restoration lesson but then when we realized what he needed to hear was all about prayer and faith. sometimes i hold back becasue i dont want to offend people or i dont feel comfortable around them but with him i didnt, he was taught and testified to with out holding back, i love when it happenes like that. its been a while. he wants to change his life, but he didnt know how and he had never thought that God was the answer because he had blamed Him for all the problems. i have so much hope for him, i prayed to close the lesson, actually i told him we were going to pray. then prayed for him, i dont know he had ever heard someone pray for him before. it was just something special cuz i got to watch the hope grow and the heart soften, we wanted it to be true but there are atill alot of things telling him its not. we are going to pass by again this week, i can tell this will take time and work, but its for reasons like this im here. sometimes its hard to remember when there is a time when people dont progress, and who knows if he will progress but i have hope. and im tankful to have had that experience.

as missionaries i dont think we see more miracles then other people, i think these happen every day, but with the gifts we are given when we are set apart, we are more aware of them, people tell us that we are different now, that they can feel a difference when we are around because we are the missionaries but i really dont feel different, but then i realise the little gifts we have when we teach and meet people and how we can tell when they need to hear. its amazing and i know its not a talent of mine but truely is a gift, cuz i didnt have it before.

 

its ture i love and miss you all, peobably every other day, i remember how awesome my family is but its is pretty great to be a missionary even through all the hard times, at least they make good stories, but you have to wait till im home to hear those ones. :)

i love you al!! thanks for the love and prayers and photos.

con todo mi corazon! hermana hanson